January 9, 2013

The
Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following
statement:

The
Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly condemns the physical assault on Comrade
Abdur Rezzak Mollah, member of the West Bengal State Committee of the CPI(M)
and MLA. Rezzak Mollah was assaulted by a Trinamul Congress leader Arabul
Islam and others while visiting a Party office which had been burnt down
by the TMC men. Rezzak Mollah received injuries to his face and has been
hospitalized.

This is
the latest instance of the continuing violence by the Trinamul Congress against
the CPI(M), the Left parties and the opposition. The CPI(M) demands that the
TMC leader and others responsible for the attack be immediately arrested.

The
Polit Bureau appeals to all democratic forces to raise their voice
of protest against the thuggish violence indulged in by the Trinamul Congress
in West Bengal.

BHANGAR: The attack on CPM
veteran Abdur Rezzak Mollah has bared the underbelly of the gory politics in
the bheri lands (wetlands) of South 24-Parganas.

Bhangar, a mere 28km from the city, was under
the writ of Mollah's party for years. Now, Trinamool Congress strongman Arabul
Islam calls the shots.

Arabul, a former MLA, is the prime accused in
the attack on Mollah - yet another criminal charge in a long list of pending
cases, from criminal intimidation to attempt-to-murder. According to police,
none of the cases have been dropped though Arabul has got bail in some.

The CPM has demanded his arrest within the next
24 hours. "We will wait for the administration to act by Tuesday noon.
Else we will stage a dharna in front of the police superintendent's
office," said Leader of the Opposition Surjya Kanta Mishra.

The condemnation of Arabul across political
lines has come as a ray of hope to a woman from Bhangar, who was driven out of
her home and hearth in August and forced to take shelter in New Town, Rajarhat,
with her husband.

"Some men, led by Arabul, beat me up at
Satulia bazar in front of everyone, tore off my sari and blouse, and attacked
my private parts. They dragged me to the local dumping ground thinking I was
dead. That was on August 28," she told TOI on Monday. She went to Kashipur
police station to lodge a complaint but in vain. "Police did not initiate
an inquiry till I moved Alipore court. On hearing my complaint, the chief
judicial magistrate directed the officer-in-charge to start a case," she
said.

While the traumatized woman had to wait till
October for the police to start an inquiry, the man who is accused of
"leading the attack" is unfazed. "I do not know of any such
complaint. You can check with the local police," said Arabul.

Kashipur Police, however, recognised the
complaint. "Yes, a complaint was made by (TOI is withholding the name)
though her injury report doesn't confirm all the elements of the complaint, or
Arabul's having a hand in it," a police officer said. But he has not sent
the report to the court, saying the complaint is untrue.

The entire episode goes against the chief
minister's directive to police to take a complaint as and when a victim comes
to the police station.

However, the rules of the game changed when a
woman known to Arabul went to Kashipur police station to complain about a
family dispute. While the sub-inspector on duty took a few minutes to record
the complaint, Arabul angrily stepped into the police station and slapped the
officer. This was within days of the molestation complaint lodged against the
Trinamool leader. As usual, the police officer bore with the assault.

The Trinamool chief - who showed "zero tolerance"
to pay leaders Meer Taher Ali and the others who swayed with girls and showered
money on them at the party's foundation day at Bhangar - has been bearing with
Arabul for long. Is it because Mamata needs Arabul for the coming panchayat
polls?

Mamata's infinite tolerance for this infamous
leader from Bhangar has raised questions even among Trinamool circles. There
was not a word of caution from the Trinamool leadership when Arabul, the
president of Bhangar College, barged into the staff room in April last year and
allegedly threw a jug full of water at lecturer Debjani Dey.

Former Union minister Saugata Roy gave vent to
his disgust at a meeting of college principals held at Ashutosh College.
Trinamool minister Rabi Ranjan Chattopadhyay had also spoken against Arabul.
However, the CM kept mum while education minister Bratya Basu threw his weight
behind Arabul.

BHANGAR (SOUTH 24-PARGANAS): Political violence
touched a new nadir on Sunday afternoon when former CPM minister and present
Bhangar MLA Abdur Rezzak Mollah was allegedly assaulted by a mob led by
ex-Trinamool Congress MLA Arabul Islam at Katatala in the Kolkata Leather
Complex police station area.

As Mollah's jeep reached the spot at 12.20 pm, a
large group of Trinamool men broke away from a meeting and rushed towards the
vehicle with bamboo sticks. While the jeep's windscreen was smashed, Mollah was
allegedly punched by Arabul. As he collapsed to the ground, the mob kicked and
hit him on the stomach and chest for about seven minutes, even as his lone security
guard and driver watched helplessly. A severely injured and bleeding Mollah "he has a deep gash under his eye and a cut on his lips apart from a hip
injury” was rescued by two policemen. He was put into the damaged vehicle and
taken to the Rabindranath Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences.

A hospital official said some teeth on Rezzak's
lower jaw have been broken and he was bleeding from his lower lip where two
stitches were given. His ECG has been done and further X-rays will be carried
out on Monday.

Municipal and urban development minister Firhad
Hakim rubbished the charge, saying that Mollah was only pushed by some people.
He denied that Trinamool supporters had attacked Mollah and his men.

The assault, coming in the wake of a series of
CPM-Trinamool clashes across the state, was played down by the Trinamool
leadership. The party claimed it was a drama staged by CPM to defame the state
government. CPM has planned a sit-in at Alipur demanding the arrest of the
culprits within 48 hours.

Mollah had gone to Katatala to inspect a party
office, which was burnt down on Saturday night. CPM alleged it was done by
Trinamool-backed miscreants. "I was told by the women of Katatala that
Arabul and his associates have been looting and torturing them. So I assured
them that I would visit them. That is why I had gone there," Mollah said
in hospital.

Mollah's driver Amar Ghosh, who also suffered
minor injuries, said the assault was pre-planned. "As we were close to the
party office around 12.20 pm, we found a small gathering. They suddenly started
running towards us. They were carrying bamboo sticks. They first smashed the
glass windscreen. Rezzak Mollah opened the door and got down but before he
could say anything, a blow landed on his face, leaving him bleeding," he
said.

Ghosh said after Mollah fell down, they kept
kicking him. His security guard made a futile attempt to save him, but was
vastly outnumbered by Arabul's supporters.

In the evening, Ghosh lodged a complaint against
eight persons, including Arabul Islam, Pradip and Kalu at the Kolkata Leather
Complex police station. Trinamool has also planned to lodge a counter-complaint
against Mollah.

At a hurriedly convened press conference at
Trinamool Bhavan, Hakim said it was a drama staged by Mollah, who had gone to
the spot ignoring a request from the administration to the contrary. "We
had a street-corner meeting and Arabul was delivering his speech. Suddenly
Rezzak Mollah reached the spot and hurled filthy abuses. It led to tension and
a scuffle broke out. If there was an attack by 3,000-4,000 people we had there,
Mollah might not have reached the hospital ever," Hakim said.

Hakim also alleged that the CPM party office was
burnt down by its own members to malign the administration. Sauqat Mollah, once
a close aide of Mollah and now a Trinamool leader in Bhangar, said: "Only
on January 1, our party (Trinamool) office was ransacked and burnt down. Since
then, there was tension in Katatala. Mollah went there just to add fuel to
fire."

A senior police officer admitted that Mollah had
informed the administration about his visit to Katatala. He also confirmed that
police personnel had rescued Mollah from the irate mob.

CPM leader Kanti Ganguly said the attack was
pre-planned. Before the assault, Arabul and his henchmen had asked shops to
down their shutters, he said. "This is part of a game plan before the
panachayet elections to unleash fear among the electorate," Ganguly said.

Amid the demand for the arrest of Arabul by
senior Left Front leaders like Biman Bose, Surjya Kanta Mishra, Bikash Ranjan
Bhattacharjee and Subhas Naskar, Hakim said: "If Arabul Islam is arrested,
then Rezzak Mollah would also be arrested for an even worse offence."

Rebel Trinamool MP Kabir Suman said he was
feeling ashamed about the assault. "What is happening? I am feeling
ashamed and I apologize to Rezzak Mollah. If the allegations that have been
raised against him are true, Arabul Islam is out of his mind. What's wrong with
him? Can't he understand what a wrong message he is sending to the grassroots
Trinamool men?"

Kolkata, Dec 28: Ideally, 2012
should have been a honeymoon year for the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool
Congress Government in West Bengal.

For a party formed in 1998, Trinamool had not
merely won the May 2011 elections with absolute majority but had also displaced
a three-decade old CPI (M)-led Left Front Government.

The credit for this change in regime goes
entirely to Banerjee. Ever since her victory in the 1984 General Elections (as
a Congress nominee), she had emerged as the most credible face of the
Opposition in the State.

She studied each and every move of her arch
rival carefully and, repeated the same tactics in her favour. And, since she
has not been indoctrinated with any known ideology, her doors were open to
everyone, from far Left to Right, as long as they opposed the CPI (M).

So, when the former Buddhadeb Bhattacharyya
Government, in its haste to industrialise the State, antagonised the party’s
rural support base, Banerjee utilised it to build a strong anti-land
acquisition campaign — more or less on similar lines as the Left did in the
1960s.

Careful to protect her image, she had always
held extreme positions — as in declining the last ditch attempt of the Left
Front Government to strike a compromise deal with the agitating farmers at
Singur — but promised to have a model in store to make everyone happy.

Though there is lack of clarity in the new Act,
land should be returned to unwilling farmers in Singur. Government will not
acquire land but investment should come in droves. The State coffers may be
empty but development will happen through PPP model and so on.

Cookie crumbles

But, the world clearly did not move the way
Banerjee wanted .

The court struck down a slew of legislations
ranging from the Singur Act (for taking over land from the possession of Tata
Motors and redistribute it to unwilling farmers) to amendments in the
cooperatives Act.

A series of Government actions, such as closing
down a private medical college or disbanding police unions were reversed by the
judiciary.

Investments — except those initiated during the
Left regime — have largely eluded the State. On the contrary, West Bengal had
lost committed investments from at least one IT major, due to Banerjee’s anti
SEZ policy.

Collective investment schemes (popularly
referred as ‘chit funds’), each mopping up thousands of crores of rupees a year
— either illegally or using legal loopholes — have mushroomed, promising sky
high returns from the investors.

The end result is that the State’s small savings
inflow has taken a hit, leading to further impact on West Bengal’s dwindling
finances.

On the firing line

It would be incorrect to say that Banerjee was
all wrong in her actions and assumptions. But, she suffered from two major
shortcomings: Intolerance to opposition or criticism and, major inadequacies in
party administration.

The result: Within one and a half year in power
and, another few months to go before Panchayat polls, the Trinamool is now
facing allegations of widespread corruption, from within.

News of clashes between different party factions
keeps pouring in. Examples of multiple Trinamool unions — owing allegiance to
different leaders — in the same organisation, are aplenty.

In Singur the party leaders are now faced with
angry protestors. The farmers are now left with neither money nor land.
Rabindranath Bhattacharya, three-time MLA from the constituency, since 2001,
has quit the State cabinet.

One MP fell out with the leadership almost a
year ago . Another MLA criticised the one-upmanship in the party and was
recently suspended. In-fighting is spreading even at the block levels.

And, expectation is rife in the political
circles that even a slightest decline in Trinamool’s electoral fortunes in the
Panchayat polls may accentuate the troubles.

Lessons not learnt

Going by the feedback on social networking
sites, Trinamool’s popularity is waning especially among the urban youth. Even
some party veterans admit to these concerns, albeit behind closed doors.

But, it is difficult to gauge whether Banerjee
takes such concerns seriously. For the moment, she is banking on distributing
bicycles to girls from minority sections or donating sickles (used in harvesting
the crop) and agri tools to keep her rural vote bank intact.

Though the fiscal strain has intensified, she
recently announced more jobs as well as higher pay (DA) to Government
employees. She could have offered more if the Centre had allowed the State to
pile up more debt disregarding the fiscal responsibility pact.

And, every embarrassment to her Government — be
it rape incidents or tribal protest against land acquisition by a coal miner —
are readily described as “conspiracy” of the CPI (M) or “sections of media” to
malign the Government.